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The Dothan-Houston County Library board renewed its contract last week with director Chris Warren for another three years.
“It’s going to be brighter and better because it’s the strong leadership he brings,” said board member James Etheredge at the Wednesday meeting. “ We’re so glad to have you, Chris. The board supports what you’re doing.”
Warren has served as director of the system since 2020 after previously serving as library director in Auburn.
Like many librarians across the state, Warren has had to navigate challenges by residents claiming that certain books in the children and youth sections of the library contain inappropriate content.
Those challenges continue to face the system, with resident Virginia Mayers calling on the board to remove books including the popular but controversial book “13 Reasons Why” about a teen who commits suicide.
“Would you take any of these books you are so bent on protecting into your church library? Then why are they here? Are you comfortable harboring and protecting materials that damage the minds, hearts and spirits of children?” Mayer said, “I believe everybody on this board professes to be a Christian…and that is wonderful. However, consider…are you acting out of pride…[or] a DEI movement to protect something that is worthless according to God’s Word?”
Faced with the new inundation of challenges, Warren worked to change the library’s collect development policies and its process for the reconsideration of materials.
That includes putting books with graphic depictions of sex behind the circulation desk to prevent minors from accessing them.
That rule change has put two often-challenged books—“Genderqueer” and “This Book is Gay”—behind the desk while leaving a litany of other books on the shelves pending reconsideration.
“We tried to talk about what’s actually practical and what’s feasible,” Warren said of the new policies. “We consulted with our legal counsel and what we’ve adopted this morning is measured. It’s appropriate. It’s responsive and it’s defensible, and I’m very proud of our trustees and very proud of our staff for being as mindful and thoughtful as they have.”
Warren told AL.com in February that there is a difference between content that is sexually explicit and pornographic.
“There’s a great deal of misinformation surrounding all of these controversies in libraries right now,” Warren said. “It’s important that people understand there’s a difference between content that’s sexually explicit and content that’s pornographic. Librarians, by and large, are very thoughtful, very conscientious, very community-minded people and we take all of these decisions very seriously. No one is grooming children. No one is sexualizing children. We’re just trying to do our best to be representative of and of service to the diverse communities that we serve.”
